Life Sentence!

 ASH WEDNESDAY

"LIFE SENTENCE"

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Palm Branches from Holy Week 2014

Jesus come and save us,
We are but dust, 
we are like ashes,
but you can touch our unclean souls.
Jesus come and forgive us,
Our hearts are heavy,
our burdens are great,
cleanse us with the water of life.
Jesus come and heal us,
Restore our sight,
teach us truth,
speak to us words that bring us wholeness.
Jesus touch us with your heart of love,
cleanse us with the water of life,
restore our sight that we may see, 
teach us truth that we may lead Godly lives.
Amen.


Sisters and brothers, we stand together, poised at the edge of lent, confronted by the interrogating light of truth. This light, God’s light, is the same unrelenting, radiance of Jesus Christ transfigured. Standing in this light we can no longer manage any delusion of self-righteousness.

We suffer from exposure here in the wilderness. We gather this night around the truth of God’s Word for us: 
Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Set On Fire For You Lord

So, I say, “greetings Dusty, and Ashley! Hello, Asher and Dustin! Peace, be with you fellow mud-people, formed along with Adam and Eve. You have been formed out of the simplest of materials, shaped with the greatest of care by the hands of a loving and creative God, who upon completion of his every unique blessing for the world – upon completion of each of you – stoops and breathes Holy Spirit – the very breath of life into you.

You see, the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return!” are so much more than a death sentence from our heavenly Judge. To be sure, we are all in bondage to the structures and machinations of Sin in this life. And, yes, we are most likely all too aware of our own sins of commission and omission; sins that stem from our stubborn pride, born of a common fallen humanity. 

But The Fire Did Not Consume It

Rather, these words: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” are a great mercy for us all. They tell us the truth about who we are in God’s eyes. And, as such, they have the power to release us from all manner of foolishness: striving to define ourselves and our own worth through our accomplishments and possessions; through our words and wits; through our will power and our piety.

Thank God, then that we stand here together about to embark on a holy Lent, under the watchful care of the righteously loving God who puts us – individually and collectively – under a LIFE sentence. 
Remember, we are dust, and to dust we shall return.

Remember You Are Dust, And To Dust You Shall Return

Thank God, then, that we can gather here tonight to receive a very public sign of our dustiness and thereby be recalled to our true identies, even as we go forth marked with Ashen crosses to bear public witness to the truth we have in Christ Jesus. 

… Of course, this ritual is made somewhat awkward by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, a part of which we have just heard. In this part of Jesus’ teaching regarding the Reign of God, he challenges us not to be pretending hypocrites – whose inward intentions are contrary to their outward actions. He is seemingly suspicious of the worthiness of prayers, fasts, or acts of mercy that put us on display. He teaches that true faith can never tolerate anyone other than the Living God as its center. … And yet, here we stand, poised to follow Jesus into the discipleship training ground of Lent, preparing to receive Dusty crosses that are not exactly inconspicuous in the present day and age.

It begs the question: What genius decided to pair this rite with this Gospel?

But, upon more careful examination, we can perhaps see the deep wisdom in holding these two closely together. You see, this faith by which we live is one that must be navigated in tension between two equally untenable extremes.

1. On the one hand, we have the error of the Christian reformation pursued past the point of usefulness. Joke – “Pastor, I know that I am saved, because I have never done any good works.”

2. On the other hand, we have the error of the hypocrites which Jesus would warn us from. This error is especially clear in verse 2 of our Gospel. “So, when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocries do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

Their error is in striving to secure their own worth in the eyes of mere human beings, or perhaps even in the eyes of God. In the words of one wisened commentator…
“They were not giving, but buying. They wanted the praise of men, they paid for it” (Davies-Allison, 1:582).

Family, as we earnestly walk our faith in Christ – from baptismal font, to the foot of the cross and beyond the grasping hands of death – we must always remember that our righteousness, our worth, comes from the grace of God alone. And yet, this living faith in the Living God, requires that we act boldly. 

Recall, earlier in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has already commanded us in Chapter 5 v.16 “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

The thing to remember then, is that all of our actions are to point to who we are by God’s amazing act of creation, and yet more amazing faithfulness in upholding us in Grace through faith. That is why these words: 
“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” are not just law, not simply Dr. Phil's feel good ideas, but, the very Law and Gospel of Holy God. These words testify to who God is and to who we are as a result.

So, clinging to the Truth that has promised to give us life in abundance, we remember that this Lenten journey upon which we embark tonight is never about being or becoming holier than thou. Nor is it about manipulating or currying favor with God. Rather, bathed in the sometimes harsh light of the Transfigured One, this walk is about the gift of being radically honest with ourselves.

Taking up the tried and tested spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and sacrificial acts of justice and mercy, we might well ask, “Who am I to pray in secret or in public to Holy God?” “Who are we to fast in secret or in public before Holy God?” “Who am I to seek to do justice and love kindness with my neighbors in service to Holy God?”

Getting Our Hands Dirty With Sharing God's Blessing

The answer, of course, can be found in Jesus Christ who teaches us, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” Even now, God is sprinkling us with the waters of baptismal grace, rewetting the broken shards of our clay-person lives and taking them into loving hands to remake us en route to redeeming the world!

Amen. Thanks be to God! Amen.